Goldman Sachs : The Culture of Success [Paperback]

Lisa Endlich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 9, 2000

Goldman Sachs, the nation's leading investment firm, with a solid-gold reputation and a first-class list of clients, began as a family business in a lower Manhattan basement in 1869. The secrets behind the remarkable success of Goldman Sachs since then are revealed in unprecedented depth in this fascinating and authoritative narrative history of the firm.

Former Goldman Sachs vice president Lisa Endlich draws on her insider's knowledge and access to all levels of management to bring to life a unique company that has long held its mystique intact. The most stunning accomplishments in modern American finance are explored through the story of how Goldman Sachs reached its summit.

Goldman Sachs: The Culture of Success provides a rare and revealing look inside an institution -- until recently the last private partnership on Wall Street -- and inside the financial world at its highest levels. Included here, in a new chapter, is a first look at the history behind the firm's landmark initial public offering.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Goldman Sachs brings you inside the rarefied boardrooms of one of the most secretive Wall Street banking giants. Begun by a German immigrant in the late 1800s as a small family-run business, Goldman Sachs rose to become the world's top investment bank in the 1990s, even without selling stock to the public. It attracted some of the best talent in the business and cultivated an image of superiority and exclusivity. "The Goldman Sachs mystique was born of secrecy and success. Nothing like it exists on Wall Street," writes the author, Lisa Endlich, a former vice president at the firm. But behind that mystique lie tales of being swindled by British media tycoon Robert Maxwell, multimillion-dollar losses on bad trades, and the on-again, off-again attempts to go public. The book begins and ends with the firm's efforts to go public and get greater access to capital. Most other brokerages are already publicly traded, but internecine conflict and financial turmoil always seem to prevent Goldman from joining the action. In September 1998, for instance, Goldman stunned investors when it dropped plans for a stock offering amid a plunge in the market. A management shakeup soon followed. Goldman Sachs is an intriguing history of the company that invented such financial tools as block trading, commercial paper, and risk arbitrage. The book can sometimes be critical, but is largely a favorable portrait by a former employee. --Dan Ring --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Goldman Sachs, in most years the most profitable investment bank in the country, also holds the distinction of being the last major partnership among investment banks on Wall Street with partners earning tens of millions of dollars. In workmanlike prose, former Goldman v-p Endlich traces the bumpy road the company took from its founding in 1885 to its current status as a leader in the financial world. She dutifully reports the major developments in the company's history, such as the rise of Sidney Weinberg, who led Goldman from 1930 to 1969, a period during which the company overcame a tarnished reputation and became a financial powerhouse. The most interesting section of the book deals with the infamous British media tycoon Robert Maxwell and Goldman's role as his principal financial adviser: although the firm was exonerated of any illegal activity with Maxwell and his companies, it took three years to settle the various lawsuits filed against the company. Endlich is the victim of bad timing: her lively account of Goldman management's decision to take the company public in the summer of 1998 is rendered somewhat moot by the fact that those plans were derailed by the sudden (and so far brief) bear market. And although Endlich predicts that Goldman management might revive the IPO under the right market conditions, Goldman suffered one of its worst quarters for the period ended November 30 when profits fell 81%. Photos not seen by PW. Agent, Gerri Thoma at the Elaine Markson Agency. Foreign rights sold in the U.K., Germany, Japan and Korea.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone (March 9, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684869683
• ISBN-13: 978-0684869681
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #76,459 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars factual throughout but too much emphasis on the 1990's., March 13, 1999

By 

Bruce L. Mayers "ex arbitrage trader" (Sands Point, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Goldman Sachs: The Culture of Success (Hardcover)

I spent 30 years at Goldman Sachs as a senior risk arbitrage trader in the equities division. I retired in 1995. The information contained in the volume has been carefully and thoughtfully researched and the result is a wonderful historical analysis of Goldman Sachs. The book is eminantly readable and easily understandable, even for those uninitiated in the banking business. My only negative criticism refers to the excessive space given to the recent history of the firm. There was a clear change in the firms' culture after the greedy portion of the 1980's. The author is right on the mark when she tells how important the people (not only the partners) were to the creation of the special atmosphere that pervaded the firm and how very special it was to be a part of it. Although profitability was always a clear motive, it surely was not the sole purpose for which the firm existed. To profile a few bond traders and enumerate their spectacular successes (and failures) in the 1990s clearly indicates how things have changed from previous decades. I worked with Gus Levy for 10 years and Bob Rubin for 20 years and from a trader's point of view these were the spectacular people at least in the Equities Division. I doubt that the client interest is foremost in the culture of Goldman Sachs today as it was for the first 125 years. Although the importance of the client remains high today, it is profitability and risk taking that are the motivating forces.

58 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Good Theme, Poor Content, December 18, 2000

By 

Fred "Technology is your friend." (CHAPEL HILL, NC, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Goldman Sachs: The Culture of Success (Hardcover)

This book does a good job of telling the overall theme of GS, partnership and emphasis on long-term relationships are good things. The history of the firm is all laid out in front of you, recounting the significant changes in the firm over the years and how it has emerged as the preeminent investment bank. Ms. Jardine tells the story as it leads up to Goldman's IPO.

However, I do believe that there are some significant things missing. While the grander history is present (GS is good), the details and annecdotes that would provide that backup are missing (I know it is good, explain to me why). Figures are often quoted without relative measures (revenue in certain areas was X in 1960, and then Y in 1994), which is somewhat worthless if they aren't compared as %'s of the Company's revenue, or some kind of relative measure. Otherwise, this is all apples to oranges, it doesn't make sense. Ms. Jardine doesn't hesitate to make very definitive statements, such as "Goldman only recruits the best." However, she rarely, if ever backs up such statements in any way shape or form. I don't doubt GS recruits the best, but back it up! While her book does cover a lot of ground, other authors have managed to cover greater periods of history and still maintain a hint of interesting story-telling, such as "The Great Game : The Emergence of Wall Street As a World Power, 1653-2000" by Gordon.

All in all, I feel that the book is little more than glorified recruiting material. In a world full of solid financial writing, there are better books to spend your time reading.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars GOOD PICTURE, CHANGING SINCE IPO, March 19, 2003

By 

Denis Benchimol Minev "Amazonia" (Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Goldman Sachs : The Culture of Success (Paperback)

I read this book right before joining Goldman Sachs and was tremendously excited about it. I joined in 1999, right after the IPO (yes, I missed out). Despite the apparent glorification of the company, I did feel like its culture of teamwork and "long term greed" was present in everything my teams did, which the book does a good job of portraying.

It is clear the author appreciates the company very much and that this is a somewhat endorsed biography of the firm, yet I enjoyed reading it nonetheless. It is refreshing to see a former employee write a positive book after so many recent cases of employees leaving only to criticize their former employers.